Iraq receives Bulgarian D-20 guns

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Jeremy Binnie, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
14 January 2015

One of the newly delivered D-20 guns displayed by the Iraqi military Source: Iraqi MoD
The Iraqi Ministry of Defence (MoD) unveiled, on 13 January, one of the 152 mm D-20 artillery pieces that were recently delivered from Bulgaria.

In a video released by the MoD, a Bulgarian diplomat said that a total of 18 D-20s had been delivered.

Bulgaria announced in September that it had donated surplus arms and ammunition, including 1,800 firearms and 6,000 rounds, worth BNG5.96 million (USD3.58 million) to Iraq as part of an international effort to support Iraqi forces against the Islamic State militant group. It said the weapons and ammunition were transported with the help of partner countries.

ANALYSIS

Iraq appears to be rapidly building up its inventory of Soviet-designed artillery. The Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported on 30 July 2014 that Iraq had signed contracts covering the delivery of "two or three divisions" of 152 mm 2A65 MSTA-B towed howitzers, the same number of 122 mm Grad multiple rocket launchers (MRLs), a significant number of mortars, and TOS-1A Solntsepek MRLs. Some of these have already been delivered and used in counter-insurgency operations.

The D-20 and 2A65 use the same cased ammunition and they are simpler to operate and maintain than the US-made M198 howitzer that is currently the Iraqi Army's standard heavy artillery piece. There have been no indications that the US is preparing to replace the M198 howitzers that the Iraqi Army lost during the Islamic State offensive last year.

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Wait for it to fall in ISIS hands. Seriously, no one should give Iraq any weapons now. The Iraq army is still inexperienced. First form international collation something real with boots on ground, finish off ISIS then train and arm Iraqi army.

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I agree, despite all the weaponry the Iraqi army gets, it is no good if they maintain their current level of training. If the troops turn tail and run, as they have in previous engagements, all these weapons will just end up in IS hands.

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I think adequate training is needed and the Iraq army needs to make sure troops are well armed and know how to fight well as if this does not happen than more guns will not be used properly. The training needs to be up to date, and also in terms of modern technology needs to be able to fight the enemies who will attack the state easily if not trained well. The weapons are in surplus, and they need to know how to use them properly otherwise may land in the wrong hands and be used against the country like the IsIs group is doing.